Victorian Home Faces Demolition in Avalon

AVALON – In a community that has an average of 60 demolitions a year, history is hard to preserve.
In Avalon, the borough History Center, working closely with the Avalon Historical Society, works diligently to preserve artifacts of the community’s past which are then presented in carefully curated exhibits. 
Now, the borough is being presented with a very different request.
Members of a family that once owned and resided in a home on 6th Street are asking the borough to save the structure from almost certain demolition scheduled for February.
The home at 254 6th Street is a Victorian structure built between 1895 and 1900, making it one of the oldest homes in the borough. The most recent owners lost the home through a foreclosure process, leaving it vacant for the past few years.
The recent sale of the home to a developer for around $1 million opens up the expectation that the structure will be demolished, so a newer residence can be placed on the land, taking advantage of the water views of Townsend’s Inlet.
Members of the family, who sold the home back in 1996, are now launching an effort to preserve it by proposing that the structure be moved to the parking lot adjacent to the History Center.
Chris Dean, a member of the family, and now a resident of Montgomery County, Pa., presented a proposal to have the borough move the house, estimating the cost at about $100,000. An attempt to reach Dean for comment was unsuccessful.
Borough officials note that the home has been subject to potential demolition since Dean’s family sold it in 1996. Subsequent property owners could have, at any time, applied for a demolition permit for what is private property.
Borough Administrator Scott Wahl followed up on the request that the borough accept responsibility for the structure and relocating it. Wahl says that he held meetings with appropriate borough officials.
Too many hurdles exist for the borough to engage in its due diligence and proper procedures in so short a time, Wahl noted. Even that would presuppose that the borough wanted to alter existing policy and practice, which leaves preservation of homes to property owners and does not involve the use of public funds.
Wahl noted that “the borough has no past practice of acquiring an older private home for historical preservation.”
Adrienne Scharnikow, a sister of Dean and member of the family that once owned the property, wrote the Herald saying that this demolition of a 100-year-old house would never be allowed in Cape May. That may or may not be true, depending on the circumstance.
The comparison to Cape May, however, is strained when one considers that the county’s namesake resort has spent decades building its identity and a significant portion of its tourist economy around historic preservation. Its landmark status imposes numerous constraints on what is and is not done with historic structures. No other community in the county can be directly compared to Cape May in this regard.
The questions that have arisen surrounding this old house in Avalon and the proposal to have the borough accept it and relocate it are numerous.
The estimate of $100,000 to move the structure is just that, an estimate that would have to be verified by appropriate engineering studies. The cost could be significantly more.
The house has sat vacant long enough to be in need of maintenance and repair. What expense that would present to the borough is unclear.
The house relocated to a spot adjacent to the History Center has no programming purpose identified that would represent a fit with the current plans for the center.
Any structure to be used as a museum, of sorts, would require the borough to undertake appropriate adjustments for HVAC, fire suppression and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) compliance at a minimum.
The hurdles are many, even if the borough had a policy for using public funds for such preservation efforts.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.